The NFL says officials made a mistake on the final play between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. NFL spokesman Michael Signora said that officials missed a false start by the Jaguars that would have forced the end of the game before they had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal.
NFL admits officiating mistake that cost Ravens a win
The Jaguars won on a last-second field goal try that they never should have had.
“The correct call in this case would have been to penalize the offense for a false start because all 11 players were not set, and whistle to stop the play,” Signora said, via Zrebiec. “The ensuing 10-second runoff should have ended the game.”
The Jaguars took over with 1:06 left in the game and down one point, and quarterback Blake Bortles led them down the field to the Baltimore 49-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-4, Bortles was sacked but Ravens pass rusher Elvis Dumervil was called for a 15-yard facemask penalty. That set the Jaguars up with a 53-yard field goal attempt and no time on the clock.
Jason Myers hit the field goal and the Jaguars won, 22-20.
But Myers should never have had the chance to attempt the field goal, according to the NFL. The Jaguars were not all set at the line before Dumervil committed the facemask penalty (left tackle Luke Joeckel was the culprit, via Adam Schefter of ESPN). Instead, the Jaguars are now 3-6 on the season, while the Ravens have fallen to 2-7.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s unfortunate, it’s disappointing, it’s gut wrenching, it’s just the way it goes. But in the end, we have to overcome all of that stuff.”
The Ravens were also on the wrong end of a bad call in Week 7, when Ravens guard John Urschel clearly signaled that he was reporting as an eligible receiver and the referee did not see it. The referees called him on a penalty, and instead of being inside the 10-yard line in the red zone, they were forced to settle for a field goal.
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